The MT Position

Posted by Leah Harnack
Associate Editor, Mass Transit

Many of us are getting back to our offices after attending APTA’s Annual Meeting in Charlotte this past week.

Early mornings, late nights, active days, different time zone, unfamiliar territory, more information than the mind can digest in a day—I am exhausted.

No different, I imagine, than many other travelers, who are, of course, some of the people you are serving everyday.

Before continuing on here, I want to make sure it is clear that none of this is meant as a criticism of CATS. Every staff member I talked to was everything an agency could hope for—very friendly, very courteous. This is a look from an outsider’s view, coming to your city and riding your system.

When my husband and I travel we rely on public transit, Amtrak and motorcoach. My Charlotte experience was similar to countless other experiences. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit cranky and unable to sleep on the plane because of the guy snoring so loudly next to me that I decided to pull out my laptop and start typing away.

My visit to Charlotte started with a 6:00 a.m. flight. After getting off the airplane I staggered through the airport and shuffled to where I thought I was supposed to go to catch the bus that would take me to my hotel. I was digging through my bag, looking for change when a man wearing a bright orange t-shirt approached me asking, “A-P-T-A?”

After getting a free bus pass and reassurance that I indeed was standing where I needed to, I learned that this overly tech-savvy gentleman, who typically works normal business hours utilizing GIS-based solutions to optimize routes and scheduling, was out early this Sunday morning at the airport searching out conference attendees to offer any assistance in making our trip downtown a little bit easier.

As anyone would assume, that’s a common scenario at conferences such as these. Countless dedicated staff out at all hours doing a variety of things that they probably never imagined would be in their job description so attendees can focus on making the most of the conference.

My trip back was a bit more of a bumpy ride.

I forgot to check where to catch the 5 from the hotel to the airport, so I asked one of the bellhops if they knew. Just as I’ve run into at countless hotels, they had shuttle buses I could take, could call me a taxi, but no, he didn’t know where I could catch the bus. OK. I understand how that goes.

I figured I would just start walking and find a stop. Came across a bus stop sign right out in front of the convention center and at the corner, waiting to turn my way, was a No. 5 bus. Timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

There weren’t any route numbers on the bus stop sign, so I guessed it was for all the buses going this way as that must be a fairly busy stop. This serves as a great reminder—never assume. No. All buses do not stop at that stop. The bus drove past.

At this time there were masses of attendees boarding countless buses for a tour. As buses were pulling away and things were quieting down, I asked a group of CATS folks that were orchestrating this organized chaos, where I have to go to catch the bus to the airport.

They were finishing up what looked like quite a feat of organization and I would imagine sorting masses of people on bus after bus, is not what they are used to doing. They were confirming this and that with the voices coming from their radios as they were trying to sort multiple pages of lists, all while answering a myriad of questions from people like myself.

I don’t know where the miscommunication or misunderstanding came from, but walking down two blocks like I understood, did not seem to get me to where I should be. The bus stop sign listed countless routes, but there was no number five anywhere on the sign.

It wasn’t until a local was commenting with a friendly smile, “you look lost,” that I realized I was just standing there staring off into space. Unknown to the world around me I was calculating, rationalizing, well, and a little pouting mixed in there. Am I reading the sign wrong? Did they tell me wrong? Did I hear them wrong? Do I wait here? How long do I wait here?

The kind man said he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t think I was in the right place. That was good enough for me to convince me I should probably make the two-block trek back down to where there were still CATS staff lingering.

For those of you there, you can attest to the fact that it was hot — unbelievably hot. In a suit and heels, pulling luggage, I staggered back to where I had been a few minutes ago.

Twice during all of this, taxis had shot a quick I’m-here-if-you-are-looking-for-a-ride honk. By this time, very, very tempting. But no. I’m always fighting with the editor of our local paper trying to convince him that even if people don’t take transit everyday, if they just commit to it 10 or 15 percent of the time, it does make a difference. I’m stubborn. So I stagger up to the spot I started where there were some different CATS folks working.

I’m assured it’s a quick, short walk to the bus transfer center and I will find it there. Down two blocks — again, take a right, another block or so and I will see it.

Sweat starting to bead on my face, the lining of my suit damp with perspiration, feet crying to get out of heels, the rickety wheels of my suitcase bouncing on a cobblestone-like sidewalk, I head out on what I hope is the last leg of my excursion.

I make it.  And now I am in this huge transit hub, rows and rows of buses — way too much to take in at this point of exhaustion.

I find a CATS employee and he points me to where I need to go. Back outside, in front of the hub.

I get outside and there’s another staff member. Feeling a bit uneasy at this point, 30 minutes from when I first left the hotel to get on a bus, I confirm with him. He reassures me I’m in the right place, showed me where I could have a seat until the bus would come and told me it would be there in only seven more minutes.

Where’s the biggest problem that created this chaos? OK, I hate to admit it, but looking back, it was me. Before leaving for Charlotte, I did the trip planner on their Web site (thank you for allowing me to enter landmarks and not have to look up exact addresses!) for my trip from the airport to the hotel.

I wasn’t sure when I would be leaving, so I never looked at a trip planner for the return trip. I just figured I would get on at the stop I got off at. Yes, now I know that I cannot do that. When I did arrive at the airport, out of curiosity I pulled up the CATS Web site and the trip planner told me to walk to the transfer center and pick up my bus there. Lesson learned.
 
Again, CATS had friendly staff and drivers, an extremely clean bus; it was a great ride, so there are no complaints about CATS, just to share the perspective of someone that could be your passenger one day.

I now know what I could have done to make my trip with transit easier. What could CATS have done to make it easier for me? What could your agency do to make it easier for me when I fly in to your nearest airport?

If we want more people to take public transportation, how can we make it more convenient? People flying in to a city don’t have a car unless they rent one. What do you do to entice the traveler to transit instead of the taxi?

Leah Harnack
leah.harnack@cygnusb2b.com

This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2007 at 8:07 am and is filed under Transit Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.